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i am most certainly posting this at this very moment because i desperately need to consume a pile of fresh vegetables.

halloween week and weekend have been such great fun, but now i feel like big time doo doo and need to eat some colorful foods that don't come in colorful wrappers.

i don't have any of these items in my life at the moment because its the day after halloween and we certainly did not go grocery shopping today. actually, we accidentally wandered in to the magical asian supermarket,

, and bingo bango bongo, we spent $100 on seemingly nothing. woops. so now we have lots o asian candies and beverages and snacks...but that is not helping me out of my halloween health slump in the slightest!

now that its scary and dark out so early in the evening, there's no way i'm going out amongst commoners to fetch these nutritious ingredients tonight. i just woke up from my sunday afternoon football game nap! priorities.

also, winter hibernation mode begins...right now.

though, all the little veggies are looking up at me from these photos and taunting me like never before. must. get. nourishment.

yeaaaaa so i basically put all the delicious things that you'd normally find in a standard greek salad, and then add some extra tasty things for extra extra FLAVA.

i like to add a bed of various greens for extra body and salad dressing surface area coverage.

when i studied abroad in greece for 3 months in college, the greek salads that we'd get just had big ol' chunks of cucumber, tomato, and bell pepper, maybe some red onion, and definitely a large rectangular brick of fresh feta cheese on top. it was so amazing.

and they generally came with fries, too!

flavor ova here, flavor ova there.

for the dressing, i just drizzle olive oil and red wine vinegar over the salad and toss it well with salt and pepper. you could get fancy and make a little jar full of this dressing and shake it super well. then have extra for later and store it in the fridge!

maybe i would eat more salads if i have tasty homemade salad dressings staring back at me when i open the fridge......

crunch crunch crunch.

i want you back, salad. i want you back.

Flavor Bomb Greek Salad

Makes 1 big ol' salad (Serves 2)

3-5 large leaves of Romaine lettuce, washed and chopped

handful of fresh spinach

1 large tomato, sliced

1/2 a cucumber, sliced

1/2 a red onion, sliced into half-rounds

1/2 cup pepperoncinis

1/2 cup black olives, sliced

1/2 a green bell pepper, sliced

3-5 green onion shoots, diced

salami, chopped

crumbled feta cheese

fresh grated parmesan crisps*

salt & pepper, to taste

olive oil & red wine vinegar, to taste

Slice all vegetables as needed and place in a large salad bowl. Toss with a pinch of salt and pepper.

Add a light drizzle of olive oil and red wine vinegar and toss well.

*To make parmesan crisps, heat a pan on medium-low and grate little piles of fresh parmesan or Romano cheese in the pan. Let bubble and get crispy (about 3-5 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool. Gently remove from pan and use as a garnish for the Greek salad.